Illinois held primary elections on Tuesday, including the resolution of a heated Democratic race for an open seat in the U.S. Senate. The primary win by the state’s lieutenant governor makes it likely she will be elected as the next Black woman to serve in the Senate, where she is poised to be a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump.
Stratton’s win sets up potential milestones for Senate
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary, defeating Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly. Stratton thanked her family, friends, staff and supporters, and declared that “as chaos continues to ravage our country and the world has seldom felt more divided, Illinois chose a path of hope, strength, and giving the people what they want.”
The race created an unusual dispute between supporters of Stratton and Kelly, both Black women. Gov. JB Pritzker heavily supported Stratton, which drew criticism from the Congressional Black Caucus, which supported Kelly. “Governor Pritzker’s effort to tip the scales in Illinois’ U.S. Senate race is beyond frustrating for the Congressional Black Caucus,” New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, the chair of the CBC, said. “A sitting governor shouldn’t be heavy-handing the race. Quite frankly, his behavior in this race won’t soon be forgotten by any of us.” The dispute picked up from an earlier conflict in which Pritzker helped to push out Kelly as chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party.
Now that Stratton has won the primary, she is the heavy favorite to win the Senate race in the Democratic state. That would make her one of a handful of Black women to ever serve in the U.S. Senate, and would lead to three Black women serving in the Senate together for the first time. If she is elected, Stratton would join Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, marking the first time that two women of color represented a state at the same time in the Senate. Stratton is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Carol Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois as the first Black woman in the Senate. The New York Times reported that Braun said she was “over the moon” at Stratton’s primary win. “The possibilities in our democracy are there for everybody; it doesn’t matter whether you’re Black or white or male or female,” Braun said, noting that “things have changed greatly” since her 1992 Senate election.
Good news for Pritzker, challenge to Trump
Stratton’s win is a victory and a demonstration of influence for Pritzker, a billionaire who contributed $5 million toward Stratton’s race. During a Wednesday morning appearance in Chicago, Stratton thanked Pritzker for being “one of my biggest cheerleaders” and added, “I think he’d make a great president.” Pritzker, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of Trump among Democratic governors and who is in his second term as governor, is considered a Democratic frontrunner for the 2028 presidential race. For now at least, he is running for a third term as governor, winning Tuesday’s primary unopposed. He is set to face Republican Darren Bailey, a former state senator and an ally of Trump, in November’s general election; Pritzker won decisively against Bailey in 2022.
Stratton’s win, with Pritzker’s backing, is a repudiation of Trump. The president has often targeted Pritzker for personal attacks, and he even called for the governor and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to be arrested after both Democratic officials refused to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Stratton, meanwhile, made opposition to Trump a key part of her platform, and she pledged Wednesday to “stand up for working families” and to “stand up to Donald Trump” as a senator. Stratton has been vocal about her opposition to the president, running a “f**k Trump, vote Juliana” ad.
Stratton will likely take that same energy through the general election. If she wins, as many expect her to, she will add to the diversity of the Senate as one of the few Black women to serve in that body, and she will do so as a vocal opponent to Trump and his agenda.